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The Avengers Season 4 Ranked – Worst to Best
Season Four is generally held up as the pinnacle of The Avengers, and it certainly maintains
the greatest level of consistency in the run. Nevertheless, as I noted a few
reviews back, one viewer’s classic is another’s ho-hum with this show, perhaps
because it doesn’t elicit the same kind of exhaustive fandom to establish any
level of consensus as some series. There follows my Worst to Best ranking of
the season, told mostly in pictures. The index for full episode reviews can be
found here.

The Death of Stalin (2017)
(SPOILERS) Armando Iannucci’s previous big screen effort, In the Loop, wasn’t, I felt, quite as
effective as the short-sharp-sniggers its tighter TV companion The Thick of It delivered. With The Death of Stalin, the only common
ground is that he’s still immersing himself in politics. Which, let’s face is
it, is a substantial amount of common ground, as both follow a procession of
ineptitude, backstabbing, power grabs and self-preservation. What makes the The Death of Stalin particularly stand out,
though, is that it isn’t just very funny, it also works as a thriller.

One can, if one so choses, impress upon the picture stunning
topicality, much as attempts have been made with the seemingly innocuous Paddington 2, but Iannucci’s more than
willing to admit the Stalin’s genesis
and production came both pre-Trump and pre-Brexit, making it “strangely relevant in a way I wasn’t
expecting”. Which rather illustrates that this kind of tale, well-told and
with a flouris…

The Avengers 26: Honey for the Prince
The last of the season, and the last black-and-white
episode, Honey for the Prince isn’t
quite as strong as I’d remembered. It’s also a tad problematic in places. That
said, Brian Clemens’ teleplay maximises the accompanying quirkiness, the guest
cast includes a particularly memorable turn from Ron Moody as Ponsonby Hopkirk,
the director of QQF (Quite, Quite Fantastic Incorporated), and there’s an even
more memorable Dance of the Six Veils courtesy of Mrs Peel (it would have been
seven, but she was “poorly educated”).

Black Hawk Down (2001)
(SPOILERS) Black Hawk Down completed a trilogy of hits for Ridley Scott, a run of consistency he’d not seen even a glimmer of hitherto. He was now a brazenly commercial filmmaker, one who could boast big box office under his belt where previously such overt forays had seen mixed results (Black Rain, G.I. Jane). It also saw him strip away the last vestiges of artistic leanings from his persona, leaving behind, it seemed, only technical virtuosity. Scott was now given to the increasingly thick-headed soundbite (“every war movie is an anti-war movie”) in justification for whatever his latest carry-on carried in terms of controversial elements, and more than happy to bed down with the Pentagon (long-standing collaborators with producer Jerry Bruckheimer) to make a movie that, while depictinga less than auspicious intervention by the US military (“Based on an Actual Event” is a marvellous catch-all for wanton fabrication), managed to turn it into a parade of heroes pe…

The Avengers 24: How to Succeed…. At Murder
On the one hand, this episode has a distinctly reactionary
whiff about it, pricking the bubble of the feminist movement, with Steed
putting a female assassin over his knee and tickling her into submission. On
the other, it has Steed putting a female assassin over his knee and tickling
her into submission. How to Succeed… At
Murder (a title play on How to
Succeed at Business Without Really Trying, perhaps) is often very funny,
even if you’re more than a little aware of the “wacky” formula that has been
steadily honed over the course of the fourth season.

Dark Star (1974)
(SPOILERS) Is Dark Star more a John Carpenter film or more a Dan O’Bannon one? Until the mid ‘80s it might have seemed atypical of either of them, since they had both subsequently eschewed comedy in favour of horror (or thriller). And then they made Big Trouble in Little China and Return of the Living Dead respectively, and you’d have been none-the-wiser again. I think it’s probably fair to suggest it was a more personal film to O’Bannon, who took its commercial failure harder, and Carpenter certainly didn’t relish the tension their creative collaboration brought (“a duel of control” as he put it), as he elected not to work with his co-writer/ actor/ editor/ production designer/ special effects supervisor again. Which is a shame, as, while no one is ever going to label Dark Star a masterpiece, their meeting of minds resulted in one of the decade’s most enduring cult classics, and for all that they may have dismissed it/ seen only its negatives since, one of the best mo…

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016)
(SPOILERS) The drubbing Billy
Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk received really wasn’t unfair. I can’t even offer
it the “brave experiment” consolation on the basis of its use of a different
frame rate – not evident in itself on 24fps Blu ray, but the neutering effect
of the actual compositions is, and quite tellingly in places – since the
material itself is so lacking. It’s yet another misguided (to be generous to
its motives) War on Terror movie, and one that manages to be both formulaic and
at times fatuous in its presentation.

The irony is that Ang Lee, who wanted Billy Lynn to feel immersive and realistic, has made a movie where
nothing seems real. Jean-Christophe Castelli’s adaptation of Ben Fountain’s
novel is careful to tread heavily on every war movie cliché it can muster – and
Vietnam War movie cliché at that – as it follows Billy Lynn (British actor Joe
Alwyn) and his unit (“Bravo Squad”) on a media blitz celebrating their heroism
in 2004 Iraq …

Aftermath (2017)
(SPOILERS) Arnie’s post-governator movie choices have been,
well, I wouldn’t quite say eclectic, but certainly not as genre-predictable as
his picks pre-hiatus. Aftermath might
be the least predictable of those less predictable choices, a bereavement drama
– based on events following the 2002 Überlingen mid-air collision –in which he tries and fails to come to terms
with the loss of his wife and daughter in an air disaster. It’s low-key and
brief, but if Arnie doesn’t completely foul things up, neither is he any kind
of equal for Scoot McNairy’s guilt-stricken air traffic controller.

The Avengers 2.24: A Sense of History
Another gem, A Sense
of History features one of the series’ very best villains in Patrick
Mower’s belligerent, sneering student Duboys. Steed and Mrs Peel arrive at St
Bode’s College investigating murder most cloistered, and the author of a
politically sensitive theoretical document, in Martin Woodhouse’s final, and
best, teleplay for the show (other notables include Mr. Teddy Bear and The
Wringer).

Paddington 2 (2017)
(SPOILERS) Paddington
2 is every bit as upbeat and well-meaning as its predecessor. It also has more
money thrown at it, a much better villain (an infinitely better villain) and, in terms of plotting, is more
developed, offering greater variety and a more satisfying structure. Additionally,
crucially, it succeeds in offering continued emotional heft and heart to the
Peruvian bear’s further adventures. It isn’t, however, quite as funny.

Even suggesting such a thing sounds curmudgeonly, given the
universal applause greeting the movie, but I say that having revisited the
original a couple of days prior and found myself enjoying it even more than on
first viewing. Writer-director Paul King and co-writer Simon Farnaby introduce
a highly impressive array of set-ups with huge potential to milk their absurdity
to comic ends, but don’t so much squander as frequently leave them undertapped.

Paddington’s succession of odd jobs don’t quite escalate as
uproariously as they migh…